“Your what?” Lori screams over the phone. Owen’s eyes go wide, and he groans as I hand him back the phone.
“You didn’t tell your mom that we bonded?” I ask, feeling more insecure about it than I should.
“Fuck,” he grumbles, and I hop off his lap. I want to run. Deep down, that’s all I want to do. I want to leave him in this backyard and go crawl into bed with Charlotte. But I don't, I take a long inhale and watch as he talks to his mom quickly on the phone.
I try to stay logical. He said he’s happy to be bonded with me, that he’s never felt so settled. But he’s so close to his mom, so why wouldn’t he tell her?
I’m completely tuning out his conversation with his mom as he hangs up the phone.
“Piper?”
“What?” I say more sharply than I mean to.
He sighs and stands up so that we’re face to face. “I didn’t tell her because my mother, as much as I love her, is nosey and insufferable when it comes to checking in on me. I wanted some time where it was just us.”
I rub my arms and look away. His answer isn’t as satisfying as I need it to be. “Okay,” I say softly. The idea of saying all my feelings about how I’m hurt for feeling like a secret. How no one knows that he wears my mark on his chest, that he’s mine. It fucking hurts more than I’d like to admit.
Not good enough.
Disappointing.
I don’t ask much of you, Piper.
Ungrateful.
“Let’s go get Alexi and go home.”
“Piper,” he says my name and tugs at my hand, but doesn’t say anything else.
“I’m tired. Let’s go home and get some sleep. You guys have practice in the morning.”
He scrubs his hand in his hair and nods. As soon as we walk back in the house, I can feel Alexi’s eyes on both of us. He doesn’t say a word as we say goodnight to Charlotte’s Alphas. We drove here separately, and I’m walking to my car without a word as a large hand wraps around my bicep.
“What happened out there?” Alexi says quietly as Owen continues to their car.
“Nothing, I’ll see you at home.”
“Piper,” he nearly growls, and I shake my arm from his grasp. It’s all too fucking much. Not only am I dealing with my own shitty emotions right now, I feel Owens as well. His frustration, anger, and now a dash of guilt, just fucking awesome.
“Are you sure you’re okay to drive?” Alexi asks, his tone much quieter than before, and I nod my head and give him the fakest smile possible.
“We live five minutes away. I’m good. I promise.”
“Okay, we’ll follow you.”
I want to roll my eyes, but the tenderness of him caring about my safety is enough to make me shut my mouth, nod my head, and get into my car. I don’t let the emotion pour out. I bottle it in like I always have—like I’ve been taught.
The least you could do is be grateful.
Make yourself scarce.
That’s not how a Blake acts.
I spent a lot of money to have you, you know.
I’m not sure who’s meaner, my own voice in my head or the one that sounds like my father. He would be tragically disappointed to know that I was upset over an Omega, that I had bonded with one.
I’ve done everything he didn’t want for me. I quit surgery, I’m in a pack, I bonded an Omega. These are all things that I want, and I was feeling good. Why is finding out that Owen didn’t tell his mom about me such a blow? Alexi even told his mother in fucking Russia about me.
